Rent Increases For Western Australian Cattle Stations
AUSTRALIA - Steep rises in rent is on the cards for Western Australian cattle stations - however Valuer General, Gary Fenner says his department is confident it has got the pricing right.
23 October 2009
1 minute read
The Valuer General's latest assessment on properties will see some cattle stations in the Kimberley pay at least 500 per cent more for their leases reports ABC Rural.
Mr Fenner denies the assessment didn't take into account "out-of-character purchases" of Kimberley stations in recent years, which many pastoralists believe warped the true value of the land.
"The new rents have been set on the overall trend in the market, not on one-off purchases of unique properties, and the average rent increase in the Kimberley is $29,000," he says. "And in some cases, these are very profitable and large-scale businesses."
Kimberley pastoralists claim they're getting ripped off by an unstainable rent increases, and on Wednesday the Kimberley division of the Pastoralists and Graziers Association lodged a "united objection" to the increases.
Mr Fenner told ABC Rural that there's nothing wrong with pastoralists writing formal objections, if they think their property has unique circumstances.
He says in the past there has been "a small percentage of success" for stations objecting to rent increases.
"If the rents aren't sustainable and the response to phasing them in proves inadequate, then that will reflect in the market and if the pastoral activities become less profitable, then in the coming years those stations and their returns will drop, but so will the rent," Mr Fenner added.
TheCattleSite News Desk
